


The Grotto

by lordhadrian



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Gen, Jedi, Jedi Code, Jedi Training, Sith, Sith Shenanigans, Star Wars References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 18:22:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5753548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordhadrian/pseuds/lordhadrian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obi-wan Kenobi and Asajj Ventress hide in exile on Tatooine, but her need for training causes Obi-wan to help her go to Dagobah to train with Yoda.</p><p>This is a one shot, sort of a Ventrobi story where Asajj must conquer her passions and fears by letting Master Yoda help her unlearn what she has learned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Grotto

The Grotto

by

Lordhadrian

A whole month had passed. A month of boredom and impatience. A month since Obi-wan Kenobi had led Asajj Ventress to Planet Dagobah.

The Empire had become firmly founded. The once benign Senator Palpatine, reluctant Chancellor and besieged leader of the Republic during the Clone Wars, had become as monstrously oppressive as any Dictator in galactic history.

Ventress had no love for the Republic, or the Jedi Order Emperor Palpatine had crushed underfoot, but even she saw dire signs for the future.

She had also sensed extreme danger when Palpatine brought forth to the public one of his most devoted servants, Vader.

Vader was a horrifying construct, and was bathed in the Dark Side. Vader's single minded obsession to hunt down all Force users sent her into hiding along with the few remaining Jedi scattered throughout the galaxy.

Her initial run took her to Tatooine, where she stayed hidden and was even mentored by Kenobi to hide her Force abilities from the greater hunt.

But it was a very stifling time, and Kenobi's strict adherence to old Jedi principles and meditations made her unruly and impatient. She still had many Sith traits to overcome.

In Kenobi's wisdom, he felt she needed a mentor and teacher who could mold and temper her energy, her frenetic mind to a more gentle state.

He sent her to Yoda.

Landing on Dagobah was her first great challenge, trying to keep her ship safe in the swamps.

Finding Yoda was even more challenging. While the swamp had its share of dangerous plants and animals, Ventress was not intimidated. If anything, she was bored. And restless.

It wasn't until she started setting forest fires for her amusement that Yoda intervened to help her unlearn all that she had learned about The Force under Count Dooku.

A month of training, dull days of hard exercise, and uncomfortable, stuffy nights with little sleep.

The meditation was the worst. How anyone could sit in one spot for 6 hours and do nothing......it was almost too much.

Today, Ventress trained physically, carrying Yoda on a jog through the swamp around his house. Carrying him was uncomfortable, but it was better than sitting for six hours.

"Are we there yet?" Ventress sighed.

"Almost, we are." Yoda led her down a special path. Today, he needed to elevate her lessons beyond simple exercises. Her lessons were about survival in a whole new era in the galaxy.

They stop in front of a dark grotto, overrun with foreboding plants and trees.

Ventress looks in the entrance with some hesitation.

"Sense it, do you?" Yoda speaks softly.

"What is this place?" she asks, even quieter. The Dark side was thick in the air.

"It is a place of darkness, but also a place of wisdom. There, you will find purpose."

"I thought my purpose was to learn how to survive against Vader and the Empire. After all, you couldn't stop the Emperor, Kenobi couldn't stop the Emperor, even the great Anakin Skywalker could not stop the Emperor."

Yoda looked at her sadly, but Asajj was oblivious as she started to get irritated with looking at the grotto.

"What am I supposed to learn here?" she asked impatiently.

"Truth. Truth about the power of the Dark side."

Ventress suddenly started feeling unimpressed with Master Yoda. "What kind of truth? I know as much about the Dark side as there is to know. Dooku taught me everything."

"Go, learn the truth of the Dark side, you will. Teach you everything, Dooku did not." Yoda answered cryptically.

Ventress sighed and started walking into the horrible, cold place, past gnarled roots and dead trees.

She was accustomed to the darkness in the Force, but she felt coldness here, a corruption that choked the very life out of everything in this part of the swamp. Even the common animal noises that echoed in other places ceased within the zone.

Ventress had trouble breathing here. The corruption was thick, and even her time under the Sith lord Dooku had become was mild compared to the perverse atmosphere.

She wondered if Yoda might have grown so tired of her complaining that he sent her into a death trap to be rid of her.

Ventress was alert on a whole new level as soon as she heard the heavy breathing.

She found herself face to face with Vader, the Dark lord of the Sith. A machine being that may have lost all its humanity at some point, and was very devoid of any life except for the ominous breathing.

"What madness is this!?" She yelled at him. Vader ignored her and lit up his light saber to strike her down.

She responded instinctively, defending herself in the small spaces of the enclosed grotto.

Vader pushed her back with the Force and struck at her. The fight became a struggle, and Ventress realized she could not win with just brute strength.

She started using her meditation skills, crude as they were, concentrating on countering Vader's strikes and avoiding his power in the Force. With patience, she started to push him back and pushed him away with the Force.

After a moment of careful fighting, she found her one chance to breach his defense. She took a swipe at his helmet and slashed away part of it, revealing his burnt face and the blazing hate in his eyes.

His horrible yellow eyes.

Ventress suddenly felt real fear for the first time in a long time.

She started to recognize him, and the truth behind Vader struck her with true terror.

"Anakin....that can't be....That's impossible! I thought Anakin was the greatest of Jedi warriors!"

Anakin charged with a fierce yell and attacked her ferociously.

Ventress wavered for a moment in fear, but then remembered the meditation Yoda instilled in her. It started to make sense. She battled the terror of facing Anakin with a sense of peace.

Suddenly, she found control. She found the ability to stand up to him with peace and not raw passion. She found a way to defeat Anakin without becoming the animal Anakin now was. She realized that Anakin had lost control, and his passion made him Vader, made him an even worse Monster than she had ever been.

In a moment, the fight was over. Like a waking dream, Anakin faded out. the vision was over, though Ventress could still feel the coldness of the Dark Side. Coldness that had enveloped Anakin's heart and made him a true Sith, something Ventress once journeyed to become.

Ventress had taken a major step into light, but it was not without much to contemplate. She saw what true darkness was. She had always thought Vader killed Anakin like the other Jedi. The truth was far worse. He had embraced darkness, and fell farther than Ventress thought could ever be possible.

So great was the yellow eyed horror that she encountered, a part of her questioned what purpose, if any, she could ever hope to have.

She exited the grotto and faced Yoda quietly.

"Find answers, did you?"

Humbled, Asajj Ventress quietly picked up the Jedi and shouldered him on her back for the long jog to the place he called home.

"I wish I didn't." she replied quietly. She did not speak for the rest of the way back.

But she understood why Obi-wan sent her here, sent her to train with Yoda.

The point of the training was not just to learn Jedi ways. It was to truly save her from becoming what she had beheld.

Enduring the boredom wasn't so bad. Meditation time started looking very appealing indeed. maybe one day she might get to thank Obi-wan for his efforts.


End file.
